Guide arrangement

ABSTRACT

The guide arrangement for marine hawsers comprises four rollers which are arranged pairwise so as to surround between them a guide passage for a hawser. The uppermost and, according to another concept, at least one of the upright rollers are mounted on pivotable arms so as to be pivotable with reference to the longitudinal axis of the guide passage, toward and away from this axis.

United States Patent 1 Janssen 1 Feb. 27, 1973 GUIDE ARRANGEMENT [75] Inventor: Hans Georg Janssen, Bremerhaven,

Germany [58] Field of Search....l 14/181, 235 R, 218; 254/190 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,949,279 8/1960 Eitel ..254/l90 R 2,783,025 2/1957 Scheidt Primary ExaminerMilton Buchler Assistant ExaminerGalen L. Barefoot AttorneyMichael S. Striker [57] ABSTRACT The guide arrangement for marine hawsers comprises four rollers which are arranged pairwise so as to surround between them a guide passage for a hawser. The uppermost and, according to another concept, at least one of the upright rollers are mounted on pivotable arms so as to be pivotable with reference to the longitudinal axis of the guide passage, toward and away from this axis.

17 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 'PATENTEDFEBZYW 3,718,108

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ATTORN EY INVENTOR mm -6em: 77mm ATTORNEY GUIDE ARRANGEMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a guide arrangement, and more particularly to a guide arrangement for marine use. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a guide arrangement for marine ropes and hawsers which is especially suited for use as a guide for the towing hawser on board a towing ship.

Guide arrangements of the general type here under discussion are already known, and are particularly and widely used in connection with winches for towing hawsers on board marine towing vessels, such as tugs. Their purpose is to assure the straight-line pay-out of the hawser from the winch drum. Such arrangements are mounted approximately midships at the stern of the tug, directly at or in the bulwark.

However, the known constructions involve fixed bollard-like pairs of projections which are mounted on deck, or simple members provided with hawser holes which are upwardly open to permit insertion of the hawser, with the upper open side of the hawser hole in some cases being closeable by a suitable instrumentality.

The art knows an additional somewhat improved arrangement which is intended primarily for use where the forces acting on the hawser are considerable and where it is necessary that the hawser be capable of being inserted into and removed from the hawser hole even when it is under stress. This latter feature is not possible in the simpler prior-art constructions. This improved prior-art construction comprises three pins or projections which can'be raised or lowered hydraulically and are mounted on a base located at the level of the bulwark, with a down-holder block having a recess open at one side being located in front of the pins and with the hawser being receivable in this recess. Two of the pins are located closely together and with the block constitute the actual guide arrangement for the hawser, whereas the third pin is spaced by some distance from the others and is used only for insertion and expulsion of the hawser from the arrangement. With this prior-art construction it is, however, necessary to carry out several maneuvers with the tug during the manipulation of the hawser, particularly when it is desired to remove the hawser from the arrangement. This means that with this construction it is impossible to remove the hawser from the arrangement rapidly in case of imminent danger. Thus, this construction also does not overcome the disadvantages generally inherent in the state of the art thus far, which involves not only the involved and rather cumbersome manner of manipulation but also the possible danger to the crew by making it impossible-in case of an emergency-4o dislodge the hawser rapidly from the guide arrangement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, a general object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved guide arrangement of the type under discussion which permits abrupt release of the rope or hawser from the guide arrangement when this is desired.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such an improved guide arrangement which permits such abrupt release in a simple and reliable manner.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide such a guide arrangement which also permits the rapid and simple insertion of the hawser into the guide arrangement without requiring cumbersome and timeconsuming maneuvers or manipulations.

In pursuance of the above arrangements and of others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in the provision of a guide arrangement which is particularly applicable for use with marine hawsers and which comprises, briefly stated, a plurality of rollers together defining a guide passage and each being tumable about an axis crossing a longitudinal axis of the guide passage in space. At least one of the rollers, namely at least the upper one, is mounted by mounting means so as to be pivotable with reference to the guide passage. Actuating means is operatively associated with at least this upper roller for pivoting the same in the indicated sense.

It is particularly advantageous to utilize four of the rollers, namely an upper roller, a lower roller, and two upright rollers, with the upright rollers having axes of rotation which parallel one another, and with the upper and lower rollers also having axes of rotation which parallel one another but which extend at least substantially normal to the axis of rotation of the upright rollers.

A construction according to the present invention can advantageously be employed wherever ropes or hawsers, particularly large-diameter ropes or hawsers, are to be guided on all sides in a guide passage which, however, must be capable of being opened for insertion and removal of this rope from the passage. It is particularly advantageous on board ship, especially as a guide at the stern of a tug. In such an application the guide arrangement is mounted midships at the stern of the tug in the region of the bulwark in such a manner that the vertical axes of rotation of the upright rollers are located identically or at least substantially in a common transverse plane, that is a plane which extends transversely of the elongation of the ship, whereas the axes of rotation of the upper pair of rollers, that is the upper and lower rollers, are arranged at least substantially horizontally.

It is to be understood, however, that other arrangements and positioning of the guide arrangement are fully within the scope of the invention. If the guide arrangement is utilized in the region of the bulwark, then it is advantageous that the lower roller be located behind and the upper roller-which constitutes a holddown for the hawser or rope passing through the guide passage of the arrangement-be located ahead of the upright rollers. This arrangement makes it possible to obtain a construction which is particularly accommodated to the structural configuration of the vessel, especially to that of the bulwark thereof. In order to obtain a continuous configuration of the bulwark and the advantages which will be obtained thereby which will be known to those having skill in the art, at least one of the upright rollers may also be pivotably mountedand provided with actuating means for pivoting it. It is preferable, however, that both of the upright rollers be pivotably mounted. A particularly advantageous construction provides the pivoting movement of the roller in planes normal to the elongation of the rope. For operation without utilization of the guide arrangement the rollers should be capable of being pivoted below the upper edge of the bulwark so that they will not interfere with the movement of the rope in lateral direction-that is towards the sides of the tugwhen the guide arrangement is not to be utilized. The lower roller of the guide arrangement is preferably but not necessarily so mounted that its crown is located approximately at the level of the upper edge of the bulwark, so that this rollerwhich cannot be moved from its positionwill not be an obstacle to lateral displacement of the rope at such times as the guide arrangement is not in use for guiding this rope.

As far as the construction of the pivoting means for the rollers is concerned, it is clear that this should be sturdy, and according to the present invention it is proposed to have the pivotable rollers mounted at one axial end thereof freely suspended on arms which themselves are piyoted on pivot pins and connected with means for effecting their pivotal displacement. A compact construction with few movable components is obtained by arranging all pivot arms of pivotable rollers on a common pivot pin the axis of which extends in parallelsim with the longitudinal axis of the guide passage, that is of the rope when a rope is accommodated and passes through the guide passage. The upper or down-holder roller can also be tiltable in addition with reference to its mounting arm, transversely to the elongation of the guide passage, and in order to obtain this tilting movement a separate drive should advantageously be provided. With such a construction it is assured that when the rope is to be ejected or discharged from the guide passage, the upper roller will immediately become inclined at a steep angle to the vertical so that under all circumstances the rope can readily slide out of the guide passage. The actuating means for effecting the various displacement motions, that is of the pivot arms and of the tilting movement of the upper roller if such a construction is provided, are preferred to be cylinder and piston units with pressure actuation, that is of hydraulic or pneumatic type.

A particularly simple construction of the present invention utilizes stationary journals for the two upright rollers having vertical axes of rotation, whereas the lower roller is mounted in a cut-out of the bulwark as the lower delimitation thereof, whereas the upper side of the guide arrangement is flush with the upper edge of the bulwark and covers the cut-out, so that the entire guide arrangement is protected in the bulwark. This particular embodiment has very few movable components and requires only a simple drive or actuating arrangement, namely for pivotal displacement of the upper roller which acts as a down holder for the rope. For ejecting the latter from the guide passage a member can be located between the two upright rollers which can be raised and lowered and which can be operated in conjunction with the pivotal displacement of the upper roller, in order to lift the rope outwardly and upwardly of the guide passage without manual labor at such times as the upper roller is pivoted laterally to free the guide passage for this purpose. The upper crown of the upper roller can be located approximately at the level of the upper edge of the bulwark, or even more advantageously, slightly higher but under no circumstances lower than this other edge. This latter construction is particularly advantageous when the rope is to be paid out downwardly of the winch drum,

that is over the lower crown of the winch drum rather than over the upper crown, because this latter arrangement is compact and rather low in its overall height.

The novel features of the invention which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims.

The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 illustrates in a side view the arrangement of a guide construction according to the present invention on a tug;

FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of a guide arrangement according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a top view of a further embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a top view of FIG. 6; and

PK]. 8 is a side view of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing firstly FIGS. 1 and 2, which have been provided to show how an arrangement according to the present invention can be mounted on a tug or similar marine vessel, it will be understood that reference numeral ll generally and somewhat diagrammatically designates the upper deck of a tug which is not illustrated in detail. The arrangement according to the present invention is mounted approximately midships at the stern immediately behind the bulwark 2. The guide arrangement serves for guiding one or several ropes or hawsers 3 which are paid out from the drums 4 of one or several winches mounted on deck of the vessel. In these FIGS. 1 and 2 the embodiment of FIGS. 3-5 has been shown on somewhat smaller a scale.

This embodiment will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3-5. It will be seen to comprise four rollers 5, 6, 7 and 8 which, as particularly shown in FIG. 3, surround a guide passage with one another. Two laterally spaced upright rollers 5 and 6 are turnable about upright axes which extend in parallelism with one another, whereas the upper roller 7 and the lower roller 8 are turnable about substantially horizontal axes which extend substantially normal to the upright axes of the rollers 5 and 6.

In the illustrated embodiment the rollers S and 6 as well as the upper or down-holder roller 7 are freely turnably mounted at one axial end each of the pivot arms 9, 10 and 11, respectively. These pivot arms are all pivotably mounted on a common pivot pin 12 which is located below the level of the guide passage and extending in parallelism with the longitudinal axes of the same.

The arms 9, 10 and 11 are each connected with a cylinder and piston unit 13, 14 and 15 respectively which serve for effecting the pivotal displacement of the arms 9-1 1 FIGS. 3-5 also show that in this embodiment the upper roller 7 is so mounted on its associated arm 11 that it can be tilted with reference thereto, with an additional cylinder and piston unit 16 being provided for effecting such tilting movement.

The cylinder and piston units, all of which are of the pressure-fluid operated type such as hydraulically or pneumatically actuated, are not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in order to make these Figures less complicated.

In this embodiment the lower roller 8 is so mounted that its.upper crown is located approximately at the level of the upper edge of the bulwark, and of course it serves as a supporting roller for the rope 3. It is also evident, particularly from FIGS. 4 and 5, that the lower roller 8 is located behind the upright rollers 5 and 6 whereas the upper roller 7 is located ahead of the rollers 5 and 6. The broken lines in FIG. 3 illustrate that the rollers 5, 6 and 7that is those which are mounted on the arms 911 respectively-can in this embodiment be pivoted to such an extent that they move below the upper edge of the bulwark so that they will be out of the way and will not interfere with lateral movement of the rope when the rope is to be used without the novel guide arrangement.

The embodiment in FIGS. 6-3, finally, is considerably simpler than the embodiment of FIGS. 3-5. Here, the two rollers 5 and 6 are stationary, that is they can rotate about their respective upright axes but they cannot be pivotably displaced. The lower roller 8 is mounted in a cut-out of the bulwark 2, constituting the lower delimitation of this cut-out, and only the upper roller 7 is mounted on a pivot arm 11 which again is pivotably displaceable by being connected with a cylinder and piston unit 15. It should be pointed out, incidentally, that the cylinder and piston units mentioned in all embodiments are of entirely conventional type which are commercially available and which are too well known to those having ordinary skill in the art to require detailed description. In FIG. 8 the pivoted position of the roller 7, that is the position to which it can be moved when the passage is to be freed for insertion or removal of the rope 3, is illustrated in broken lines. In this embodiment there is also provided a member 17 which is located between the rollers 5 and 6 and which can be raised and lowered, by being connected with the arm 11 so that it moves upwardly when the arm 11 pivots in a sense displacing the roller 7 to the broken line position of FIG. 8, whereas it moves downwardly when the roller 7 turns to its position paralleling the roller 8. In moving upwardly the member 17 pushes a rope accommodated in the guide passage upwardly out of the latter, thereby aiding in the ejection of the rope and eliminating the need for manually lifting the rope out of the guide passage. In this embodiment it is shown in FIG. 8 that the upper edge of the arrangement is flush with the upper edge of the bulwark 2 so that the entire arrangement is located within the outline of and protected by the bulwark 2.

without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A guide arrangement particularly for marine hawsers, comprising a plurality of rollers together defining a guide passage and each being tumable about an axis crossing a longitudinal axis of said guide passage in space, said rollers comprising at least one upper and one lower roller; mounting means mounting at least said upper roller for pivotal movement with reference to said guide passage in a plane substantially normal to said longitudinal axis; and actuating means operatively associated with said upper roller for effecting the pivotal movement of the latter in said plane.

2. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1, said axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers extending in at least substantial parallelism with one another; and wherein said plurality of rollers further comprises two upright rollers at opposite lateral sides of said passage and whose axes of rotation also extend in parallelism with one another but at least substantially normal to the axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers.

3. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 2, wherein the axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers have an at least substantially horizontal orientation; and wherein the axes of rotation of said upright rollers are located in a common transverse plane.

4. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 3, wherein said upper and lower roller are respectively located at opposite sides of said transverse plane.

5. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 3, said guide passage being adapted for movement of a rope therethrough in a predetermined direction; and wherein said upper and lower rollers are respectively located upstream and downstream of said transverse plane as seen in said direction.

6. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 4; further comprising additional mounting means mounting at least one of said upright rollers pivotably relative to said passage; and additional actuating means for effecting pivotal movement of said one upright roller.

7. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said additional mounting means mounting said one upright roller also for pivotal movement in a plane substantially normal to said longitudinal axis.

8. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said mounting means and additional mounting means each comprising an arm journalled to said upper and one upright roller, respectively, and a pair of pivot pins each joumalling one of said arms for pivotal movement.

9. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said mounting means and additional mounting means each comprising an arm journalled to said upper and one upright roller, respectively, and a common pivot pin journalling both of said arms for pivotal movement and extending in at least substantial parallelism with said longitudinal axis.

10. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 9; further comprising journalling means journalling said upper roller on the associated arm for rotation and for tilting movement relative thereto.

11. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1', further comprising a carrier structure mounting said guide arrangement and having an upper edge over which a rope passing through said guide passage is adapted to move; and wherein said lower roller extends downwardly below said upper edge in its entirety.

12. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1; further comprising a carrier structure mounting said guide arrangement and having an upper edge provided with a cut-out; and wherein said lower roller constitutes the bottom delimitation of said cut-out and said upper roller is located within said cut-out.

13. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 12; further comprising a rope-engaging member mounted intermediate said upright rollers for displacement upwardly anddownwardly relative to said-longitudinal axis of said passage.

14. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 12, wherein the upper roller is flush with said upper edge.

15. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1, said actuating means comprising a pressure fluid operated cylinder and piston unit.

16. A guide arrangement, particularly for marine hawsers, comprising a plurality of rollers together defining a guide passage and each being tumable about an axis crossing a longitudinal axis of said guide passage in space, said rollers comprising at least one upper and one lower roller; mounting means mounting at least said upper roller pivotable with reference to said guide passage; actuating means operatively associated with said upper roller for pivoting the latter; and a carrier structure mounting said rollers and means and having an upper edge over which a rope passing through said guide passage is adapted to move, said mounting means mounting said upper roller for pivotal movement from a position above to a position below the level of said upper edge.

17. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 16; wherein said carrier structure is a ship. 

1. A guide arrangement particularly for marine hawsers, comprising a plurality of rollers together defining a guide passage and each being turnable about an axis crossing a longitudinal axis of said guide passage in space, said rollers comprising at least one upper and one lower roller; mounting means mounting at least said upper roller for pivotal movement with reference to said guide passage in a plane substantially normal to said longitudinal axis; and actuating means operatively associated with said upper roller for effecting the pivotal movement of the latter in said plane.
 2. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1, said axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers extending in at least substantial parallelism with one another; and wherein said plurality of rollers further comprises two upright rollers at opposite lateral sides of said passage and whose axes of rotation also extend in parallelism with one another but at least substantially normal to the axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers.
 3. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 2, wherein the axes of rotation of said upper and lower rollers have an at least substantially horizontal orientation; and wherein the axes of rotation of said upright rollers are located in a common transverse plane.
 4. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 3, wherein said upper and lower roller are respectively located at opposite sides of said transverse plane.
 5. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 3, said guide passage being adapted for movement of a rope therethrough in a predetermined direction; and wherein said upper and lower rollers are respectively located upstream and downstream of said traNsverse plane as seen in said direction.
 6. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 4; further comprising additional mounting means mounting at least one of said upright rollers pivotably relative to said passage; and additional actuating means for effecting pivotal movement of said one upright roller.
 7. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said additional mounting means mounting said one upright roller also for pivotal movement in a plane substantially normal to said longitudinal axis.
 8. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said mounting means and additional mounting means each comprising an arm journalled to said upper and one upright roller, respectively, and a pair of pivot pins each journalling one of said arms for pivotal movement.
 9. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 6, said mounting means and additional mounting means each comprising an arm journalled to said upper and one upright roller, respectively, and a common pivot pin journalling both of said arms for pivotal movement and extending in at least substantial parallelism with said longitudinal axis.
 10. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 9; further comprising journalling means journalling said upper roller on the associated arm for rotation and for tilting movement relative thereto.
 11. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1; further comprising a carrier structure mounting said guide arrangement and having an upper edge over which a rope passing through said guide passage is adapted to move; and wherein said lower roller extends downwardly below said upper edge in its entirety.
 12. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1; further comprising a carrier structure mounting said guide arrangement and having an upper edge provided with a cut-out; and wherein said lower roller constitutes the bottom delimitation of said cut-out and said upper roller is located within said cut-out.
 13. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 12; further comprising a rope-engaging member mounted intermediate said upright rollers for displacement upwardly and downwardly relative to said longitudinal axis of said passage.
 14. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 12, wherein the upper roller is flush with said upper edge.
 15. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 1, said actuating means comprising a pressure fluid operated cylinder and piston unit.
 16. A guide arrangement, particularly for marine hawsers, comprising a plurality of rollers together defining a guide passage and each being turnable about an axis crossing a longitudinal axis of said guide passage in space, said rollers comprising at least one upper and one lower roller; mounting means mounting at least said upper roller pivotable with reference to said guide passage; actuating means operatively associated with said upper roller for pivoting the latter; and a carrier structure mounting said rollers and means and having an upper edge over which a rope passing through said guide passage is adapted to move, said mounting means mounting said upper roller for pivotal movement from a position above to a position below the level of said upper edge.
 17. A guide arrangement as defined in claim 16; wherein said carrier structure is a ship. 